Such systems are used for motorized products or automatic devices for closing or for protection against sunshine in buildings or for the control of lighting or other units. Typically, one or more transmitters are provided; each device to be controlled—rolling shutter, blind, lighting unit, etc.—is associated with a receiver. The radio transmitters and receivers use the same transmission frequency. For these devices, and in particular for motorized products or automatic devices for closing or for protection against sunshine in buildings, logistic reasons most often necessitate that the pairing is not performed during manufacture, but rather on-site, after installation of the products.
In general, the radio receiver is capable of learning at least one address—or code or identity number—which identifies a transmitter, when it is set to a special learning mode. Such a functioning is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,750,118 (Heitschel 1985). When the receiver is accessible, it is for example easy to use a specific button, or a special procedure on a button normally assigned to another use, in order to set the receiver to learning mode. A message is then transmitted from the transmitter to be paired, before the elapsing of a predetermined period, or before resetting the receiver to normal operating mode. In learning mode, the receiver therefore knows that it must store the address code contained in the received signal frame. The transmitter used for sending this signal thus becomes stored in memory by the receiver in the form of an identity number. Such a method is used by the applicant in its products sold under the name “Centralis Uno RTS”.
Rather than acting on a specific programming control, the ability to transmit the command to set to learning mode directly from the transmitter itself was considered. In this case, each of the transmitters has a different identity number, but contains a same code, recognized by any receiver, for putting the receivers into programming mode. The reception by a receiver of the setting to learning mode code and of the identity number of a transmitter makes it possible to pair that transmitter with the receiver. The installer does not therefore need to handle the receiver in order to set it to learning mode simply by using, for example, a specific button on the transmitter which then transmits both the setting to learning mode code and its identity number. This solution is used in the product sold by the applicant under the name “Telis”. This solution can present a problem when several receivers are within the range of the transmitter. In this case, all of them will learn the identity of a transmitter assumed to control just one of them.
Several solutions have already been proposed to solve this designation problem, both for the case of an initial pairing and also for the cases of commands for groups of equipment or of replacement of a transmitter by another one in the event of loss, etc. Two such examples can be found in FR-A-2 772 171 (Gauthier 1998) and FR-A-2 792 443 (Symoen 1999).
It should be noted that once the initial pairing is complete for the whole installation, known techniques make it possible to subsequently set just one of the receivers to learning mode in order for it to learn the identity of a second transmitter of or a plurality of other transmitters also capable of controlling it. An example of such a technique is given in EP-A-0 867 848.
Finally, the development of specialized circuits of the radio transceiver type and supporting a network-type protocol made it possible to have a solution in which the installer is provided with a programming console. Each of the preceding receivers is therefore also a transmitter, and the programming console is therefore not only a transmitter but also a receiver. In the learning phase, the receivers send their own unique identification number to the console. The software contained in the console makes it possible to sequence the receivers that have presented themselves. The installer then has the possibility of sending, successively, a command that will be recognized only by the single receiver concerned and of proceeding with the pairing of that receiver, which is thus identified physically by responding to the said command, with the transmitter designated to control it subsequently.
However, even though simple to use, this system requires a specific programming tool, which is a heavy constraint for small installations.
WO-A-01 71865, claiming an earlier priority to the present application but published later than it, describes an assembly of different apparatuses capable of communicating with a remote control unit over bidirectional links. Each of the apparatuses is assigned with a unique apparatus code, which is allocated by the wireless transmission protocol. This document gives no further details on the assigning of the unique number.